KSP Steam or Store?

[Philip Omnis]

Hey there guys. I've been following the game and played it many times whilst with my friend who used to be a major addict. I only really found out about the whole guarantee-for-expansions that ends at the end of April (today) and so have decided to buy in! My only real question is should I buy it on Steam or via the Store? Does either one have limits somehow? Also, I did use a search but could not find any information (may be due to the rollback.) Thanks for the help!

[iGame97]

Hey Philip, I've bought KSP on Steam because it is downloadable any time the updates get released at the same time as the store version and I love Steam.

But I think there's no differences between Store and Steam.

[EndlessWaves]

Yeah, it's disappointing the devs have bungled up the widespread release like this. It's not very good to launch on one digital distributor over a month ahead of all the others and cut off the freebies deal before they launch generally. Maybe they will extend the cut off date.

As to the question asked, I'd say the store is easily the better choice. If you go steam then the game won't be supporting steamworks specific features (workshop etc.) because Squad are going to offer the same functionality to everyone but you do get all of the downsides of steam like the DRM and aggressive client (the store version is completely DRM free). You can always run the store version via steam to get the overlay.

Edited April 30, 2013 by EndlessWaves

[cardgame]

The KSP store allows for easier maintenance of multiple versions, so I won't have my 19.1 saves wiped out automatically with the release of .20 like I would if I bought it on Steam.

On the other hand, KSP Store updates generally take several days to be fully accessible while Steam has the server capacity.

[EndlessWaves]

On the other hand, KSP Store updates generally take several days to be fully accessible while Steam has the server capacity.

That's mainly because the website is slow, the download servers are hosted by amazon so they should be at least as realiable as Steam's. Once the new patcher is added in a patch or two updating should be seamless for the store version.

[Capt'n Skunky]

It's not very good to launch on one digital distributor over a month ahead of all the others and cut off the freebies deal before they launch generally.

What are these "all the others" that you are talking about?

To answer the OP; There really isn't much difference other than the Steam version using it's system for distribution vs. ours. The biggest difference is that we get a larger profit off store sales since Steam doesn't get it's small piece of the pie.

Cheers!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[EndlessWaves]

What are these "all the others" that you are talking about?

Desura

GameFly

GamersGate

GamesPlanet

GamesRocket

GameStop

GameTap

gog.com

Green Man Gaming

Mac Game Store

PC GameStore

SimulatorCentral

And those are just the english language ones I use or could find in a few minutes, I'm sure there are plenty more.

Edited April 30, 2013 by EndlessWaves

[Capt'n Skunky]

Yes, and your implication that we will be appearing in these locations in a month is based on what information?

Again, you have no idea of what you speak, so best not to open your mouth lest you find the taste of toe cheese good.

Cheers!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[harharluke]

For me, the only benefit I saw when I switched to Steam was that it would take a lot for a KSP update to bring down Valve's servers and I don't mind losing saves etc. when it does update. I see the "whole guarantee-for-expansions" as a way to get people off of the Kerbal servers and onto stronger servers and ways to coax over those that can't afford to be buying extra parts of the game

[AlteranEmpire]

I transferred my copy over to Steam just for convenience. I just always use Steam so, why not?

[Nobody_1707]

If you're on a Mac then get the Steam version. Steam updates always work, and Squad has very, very kindly programmed it to switch to the non-Steam version if you move it from your Steamapps folder onto a thumb drive, so you can have an always up-to-date stock version and another version that's modded and has all your saves.

[HarvesteR]

Both Steam and KSPStore get the updates at the exact same time. We've set up our build pipeline so that when we release, the builds get pushed simultaneously to both servers, so update-wise, there's really no difference. It's a matter of personal preference mostly.

Cheers

[Fel]

What are these "all the others" that you are talking about?

To answer the OP; There really isn't much difference other than the Steam version using it's system for distribution vs. ours. The biggest difference is that we get a larger profit off store sales since Steam doesn't get it's small piece of the pie.

Cheers!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

If you love KSP, buy it from the store so Squad gets more funds to finish the project!

Honestly, Steam is just a very wide spread distributor. It gives KSP a lot of publicity and a fairly large amount of new customers (which means more development money)

Edited April 30, 2013 by Fel

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

I agree with getting the KSP store version, as the Steam version doesn't opt-out of the Steam DRM. It's not a big enough deal to complain about, but I wouldn't have gone that route if I knew that beforehand.

[Malachai]

I got it off of Steam, and I really have no issues, other than having to dig a few directories deeper to install my mods.

[halocon720]

I shall stay with the original servers. I've been there since .16, I will never leave.

[Kerbface]

I find Steam annoying and I don't care about any of the features, so on games where I don't have to use it I close it down and buy the games through whatever other method I could. But I don't buy too many games anyway. I'm not so big on gaming as I used to be.

[EndlessWaves]

there's really no difference.

Technical question: Have you set up steam to require the latest update installed before it'll let you run the game? It's generally an option for multiplayer games to keep everyone on the same version and ensure cheat/exploit fixes are effective but some singleplayer games use it and it can play havoc when using mods as they can break the new version but can take a week or two to be updated.

Yes' date=' and your implication that we will be appearing in these locations in a month is based on what information?[/quote']

Uh, when was the last time you saw a game that didn't release to all external shops at once AND didn't announce any sort of exclusivity deal?

The only examples I can think of either started off their external releases on smaller shops as a dry run to handling the situation or did all the major ones but steam in the days when steam's negotiating team was struggling to keep up and those are mostly tiny indie games without the hundreds of thousands of sales KSP must have had.

After squad launches in one of the biggest shops out there then of course the expectation is that they'd be following up with announcements of launches in all of the other stores, that's what everyone else does. Surely it's one of the golden rules of community management that if you're going to do something different to normal then you make it clear from the start?

[Guest]

Uh, when was the last time you saw a game that didn't release to all external shops at once AND didn't announce any sort of exclusivity deal?

That's an assumption, not information. Big difference.

[42undead2]

I agree with getting the KSP store version, as the Steam version doesn't opt-out of the Steam DRM. It's not a big enough deal to complain about, but I wouldn't have gone that route if I knew that beforehand.

As to the question asked, I'd say the store is easily the better choice. If you go steam then the game won't be supporting steamworks specific features (workshop etc.) because Squad are going to offer the same functionality to everyone but you do get all of the downsides of steam like the DRM and aggressive client (the store version is completely DRM free). You can always run the store version via steam to get the overlay.

As said times and times before, the Steam version is DRM free. You do not require online to play it. (If you've set-up Steam to have offline mode.(I think))

[Fiddlestyx]

Technical question: Have you set up steam to require the latest update installed before it'll let you run the game? It's generally an option for multiplayer games to keep everyone on the same version and ensure cheat/exploit fixes are effective but some singleplayer games use it and it can play havoc when using mods as they can break the new version but can take a week or two to be updated.

Uh, when was the last time you saw a game that didn't release to all external shops at once AND didn't announce any sort of exclusivity deal?

The only examples I can think of either started off their external releases on smaller shops as a dry run to handling the situation or did all the major ones but steam in the days when steam's negotiating team was struggling to keep up and those are mostly tiny indie games without the hundreds of thousands of sales KSP must have had.

After squad launches in one of the biggest shops out there then of course the expectation is that they'd be following up with announcements of launches in all of the other stores, that's what everyone else does. Surely it's one of the golden rules of community management that if you're going to do something different to normal then you make it clear from the start?

You do realize you're arguing with someone that works for Squad, right?

[HarvesteR]

EndlessWaves, you seem to be assuming that we are selling KSP through those other stores you mentioned, which isn't the case. The full version of KSP is only available through the KSPStore or through Steam.

Any other store will at most have the demo, and even that as an unofficial mirror download at best. So maybe that's the point of confusion.

Cheers

[L4r5man]

As said times and times before, the Steam version is DRM free. You do not require online to play it. (If you've set-up Steam to have offline mode.(I think))

Actually you don't even need to be logged in on Steam. Just go to the KSP-folder and launch from there.

[EndlessWaves]

The full version of KSP is only available through the KSPStore or through Steam.

How... bizarre.

Thank you for the clarification though.

[L4r5man]

How... bizarre.

Why do you say that? It's quite normal.